[NYTr] Bush urges full nuke warhead funding

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

sent by Dave Muller (southnews)

The Washington Post - Jul 26, 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/25AR2007072502093_pf.html


Administration Urges Full Warhead Funding

Old Weapons May Need Testing, It Warns

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer

The Bush administration has told Congress that delays in funding for a 
new generation of nuclear weapons may require a return to underground 
testing to ensure that older warheads remain reliable.

The administration included the warning in a four-page statement on 
nuclear weapons signed by the secretaries of energy, defense and state 
and sent to Congress this week. The document defended the so-called 
Reliable Replacement Warhead program, the funding for which is
contained in fiscal 2008 authorization and appropriations bills still
before Congress.

In their statement, the secretaries said, "Delays on RRW . . . raise
the prospect of having to return to underground nuclear testing to
certify existing weapons."

The White House had sought $82 million for the program and hoped to
have Congress vote next year on proceeding with production of new
warheads that could be deployed by 2012.

However, House and Senate committees have reduced the $82 million to 
prevent a congressional vote next year on the production phase. The 
committees have also included proposals in the bills for year-long 
studies that would lay out a detailed strategic nuclear weapons policy 
before Congress moves ahead with the warhead program.

The administration's statement, "National Security and Nuclear Weapons: 
Maintaining Deterrence in the 21st Century," said that a more detailed 
justification for the warhead program would follow.

The secretaries also said that the administration intended to achieve 
"an effective strategic deterrent at the lowest level of nuclear
weapons consistent with our national security and our commitments and 
obligations to allies." They pointed to President Bush's directive that 
the number of operational deployed weapons will drop from about 6,000
to between 1,700 and 2,200 by 2012 -- a level set by the agreement Bush 
signed with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2002.

The administration justified the RRW program as necessary to provide a 
safe and secure warhead for the next 25 years to replace weapons built 
for the Cold War era. The statement criticized the current lifetime 
extension program -- begun during the Clinton administration -- as 
requiring an excessive number of stockpiled warheads to make certain
the country had enough for a deployed operational force of 1,700 to
2,200.

"We are committed to maintaining the nuclear weapons stockpile, but as 
our Cold War-era weapons age, this becomes more and more difficult and 
very costly," Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said yesterday. "This 
document clearly lays out the best actions we can take in the face of
an uncertain future."

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), a member of the Senate Appropriations 
Committee and an advocate of the new warhead program, said yesterday:
"I remain hopeful that Congress will fund the feasibility study of the 
Reliable Replacement Warhead, because it offers the best opportunity to 
transition from the large and highly specialized Cold War stockpile to
a smaller, more secure and lower-cost deterrent in the future."

Stephen Young, a senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, 
described the secretaries' statement as "an almost desperate plea for 
support for the program, which provides nothing that would justify 
Congress funding it."